The State Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence for Johnny A. Johnson, who is on death row for the kidnapping, attempted rape and murder of a six-year-old girl in 2002 near St. Louis. Johnson’s attorney had appealed the decision, saying the St. Louis circuit court erred in denying him post-conviction relief.

Johnson will remain on death row for abducting a girl from her Valley Park home, taking her to an abandoned glass factory, attempting to rape her and then beating her to death with bricks and a boulder.

At trial, Johnson did not deny killing the girl but disputed that he deliberated before doing so, blaming a schizo-affective disorder that caused command hallucinations telling him to rape and kill the girl. [The Missourinet]